Coloration of various substrates (e.g., textiles) can be achieved using natural colorants or synthetic colorants/pigments. Natural colorants, derived, e.g., from plants, fruits, vegetables, insects, and minerals were among the first colorants and a range of natural colorants are known and used today for various applications. For example, red colors can be derived from beets, red cabbage and red radishes; yellow/orange colors can be derived from annato, beta carotene, saffron, luteines, pomegranate, safflower, and turmeric; green colors can be derived from chlorophyll; blue/purple colors can be derived from indigo, spirulina and black carrots; and brown colors can be derived from malt and caramel. Many natural colorants require the addition of one or more chemicals, e.g., mordants, to ensure binding of the colorant to the substrate (particularly for coloring cellulosic fibers). Further, the methods traditionally used for applying natural colorants generally exhibited poor reproducibility, were time consuming, and were not environmentally friendly processes.
There are relatively few known commercial applications of natural colorants to textiles, with one principal exception to this observation being the application of indigo. Synthetic dyes are thus commonly employed for large commercial operations. However, the look of natural dyes is commonly found to be more aesthetically pleasing. With the growth of the biofuel and ethanol industries, knowledge of and development of aggressive enzymes has grown and these enzymes hold potential for enhancing the provision and use of certain natural colorants. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 8,690,966 and U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2015/0000050; 2012/0272460; and 2011/0287681, all to Devall., which is incorporated herein by reference. It would be beneficial to provide further natural colorants and processing techniques that can allow for the production and application of such natural colorants to a range of substrates.